Teachers’ remuneration without overtime should be as high as 500 LVL before taxes, said the newly appointed Education and Science Minister Vyacheslav Dombrovskis.

In his interview to 900 seconds programme of LNT, he noted that he plans to begin working on this matter in the near future. However, at the same time, he emphasized that there should not be much hope in a very high amount of funding for the industry.

The level of teachers’ remuneration is not the only unfair thing. According to the “money after student” system, the major part of teachers’ salaries is dictated by the number of students. According to the minister, it is impossible to attract more children in rural schools.

He believes this system can be preserved in schools in cities, but rural regions require other solutions.

The initiated reforms will be continued, the minister said. He emphasized that he will try to achieve better cooperation with industry representatives and find compromises. At the same time, Dombrovskis said that he is “not a clone of Roberts Kilis”, and that he will be employing other work methods.

BNN previously reported that the Latvian Saeima had appointed Vyacheslav Dombrovskis of the Reform Party to the post of Education and Science Minister last week.

Dombrovskis has presented five priorities for the future of the education and science industry in 2013-2014. All of them are related to the now former Education Minister Roberts Kilis’ initiatives.

In regard to the teacher motivation system development and implementation, Dombrovskis says that the goal is to create a teachers’ motivation, remuneration and professional work quality assessment system.

His second presented priority is making general education free of charge. This is planned to be achieved through providing clear answers to a popular matter in the public – when education money is required to achieve the standard of general education. More importantly – which portion of the funding is provided by the state and which is provided by the parents.

He also mentioned close cooperation of professional education with the job market. Another of Dombrovskis’ priorities will be the raising of the quality of higher education with help from the industry’s representatives.

Dombrovskis received his PhD in economics in the Clark University, USA. He is fluent in three languages.

It is expected tat RP’s Saeima faction will be led by Edmunds Demiters. The Saeima National Economy, Agriculture, Environment and Regional Policy Commission will be managed by Janis Ozolins. But this is still to be decided by the commission.

The former Education and Science Minister Roberts Kilis submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis on Tuesday, April 30.

On Monday, April 29, Kilis announced that he is prepared to leave his post due to health problems, but only as long as the government provides a worthy successor to finish the initiated reforms.

“I have been in the hospital four times since my appointment as minister. I was close to infarction in two of those times. Working at the ministry has been a burden, both mentally and physically. I am no longer able to afford to go 200%, as it is required by the industry. Nevertheless, I want to be sure that the ministry will continue moving in the chosen direction. The moment I am certain about this, I will resign”, – Kilis said.

In a breakthrough in the Brexit talks, the UK gave its consent on Monday to an agreement with the European Union that a tangible border would not be established between British-ruled Northern Ireland and Ireland to have the bloc agree to retain most EU advantages for close to two years leaving the union.

In January 2017, Latvia experienced one of the most rapid export increases among EU member states when compared to the same month of the previous year, according to data published by Eurostat on Monday, 19 March.

Data compiled by International Data Corporation shows: every third illegally downloaded software programme is infected with malicious software. Nevertheless, 69% of consumers and 33% of businesses in Europe procure computers with software from unsafe sources.

Higher prices of oil have allowed the Russian economy to recover despite European Union's and U.S. sanctions and in time to benefit the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has secured his next term in office.

In 2017, there were 17.0 thousand job vacancies in Latvia, which was 2.6 thousand vacancies or 17.9 % more than in 2016. In public sector there were 6.1 thousand job vacancies van in private sector 10.9 thousand vacancies.

Cosmetics producers in Latvia export products worth EUR 20 million every year. Volumes increase 5% every year. The main export partner states are located in Europe. Still, there has been a significant increase of export volumes to third countries – to some countries this increase was as large as 60% -70%, according to data from Latvian Cosmetic Manufacturers Association.

American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia (ACCL): «We are concerned that Latvian society’s and its government’s political culture has not changed much since the publication of information detailing events associated with Ridzene talks in 2009-2011. The state capture detailed there may still be possible...

On Monday, 19 March, weather in Latvia will change, as a low atmospheric pressure area together with an atmospheric front will approach the country from the north. The day will be sunny for the most part, but the amount of clouds will increase as hours go by, as reported by State Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre.

In a reaction to Russia's announcement that it would expel 23 British diplomats from Moscow as part of the UK-Russia argument over poisoning of double-agent in an English city, Ukrainian Foreign Minister has suggested to his British counterpart that the 23 diplomats could now work in Ukraine.

Aivars Lembergs, who is accused of serious crimes and is currently suspended from his post as chairman of Ventspils City Council, had proposed his candidacy for the post of prime minister of Latvia multiple times in the past. The moment has come at long last when Lembergs will not be an official candidate for the aforementioned post, as BNN was told by the leader of Union of Greens and Farmers’ Saeima faction Augusts Brigmanis.

Despite the current demanding security situation, in the NATO military alliance, no more than three member states of the European Union have reached the recommended defence spending sum in 2017 and Estonia is one of them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin been announced as the winner of the Sunday, March 18, presidential election, as the politician has pledged to devote his new term in office to strengthen Russia’s defences against the West and to improve the quality of life.

Some 5,000 people gathered outside the Lithuanian parliament in Vilnius on Thursday, March 15, to express discontent with the failed parliamentary vote to impeach MP Mindaugas Bastys and the performance of the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.

The Legionnaires’ remembrance procession in Riga on Friday, 16 March, passed peacefully. Nevertheless, several conflicts did take place among differently-minded people near the Freedom Monument. Two individuals were arrested by police.

In Latvia, 36% of small and medium-sized companies have plans to invest in the development of their business this year. In Estonia and Lithuania, on the other hand, the proportion of businesses with development plans is 42% and 46%, respectively, according to results of a recent study performed by SEB Bank.

Russian top diplomat in the UK has envisaged on Friday, March 16, that the Kremlin would use maximum pressure on London as Moscow insists it has not been involved in the poisoning of a former Russian-British double agent with a Russian-made chemical weapon, as has been found by British investigators.

18 March 2018 will mark four years since the Russian Federation violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by annexing the Crimean Peninsula and causing military aggression in the country’s eastern region. With its actions the Russian Federation has violated international law and basic principles of international relation, says Latvia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Continuing the works on the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland, the Estonian natural gas network company Elering has stated that around 135 million euros, including a 98-million-euro funding from the European Union, will be invested in the project.